The prior art includes many machines adapted to form cross folds and French folds in small laundry flatwork items such as towels.
Sjostrom U.S. Pat. No. 2,754,113 discloses an apparatus for longitudinally folding and cross folding sheet materials including towels by means of air blasts and fold-forming plates after the article being folded has come to a stop and is clamped in fixed position.
Sjostrom U.S. Pat. No. 2,545,798 discloses the sequential forming of longitudinal parallel folds in sheet material by moving side plates on which portions of the sheet material rest over a central plate beneath which a portion of the sheet material lies. Neither of the Sjostrom patents suggests the controlled manner of instantaneous fold formation provided by the apparatus of the invention as will be hereinafter described in detail.
Landgraf et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,060,227 is directed to a folder for folding small flat pieces by forming a French fold and a cross fold in continuously moving small pieces such as towels by means of air bars and width control blades. The Landgraf et al. apparatus is limited to the folding of small pieces only. The pieces being folded are continuously moving with uncontrolled panel folding.
Kober U.S. Pat. No. 4,093,205 is directed to a laundry folder employing opposed adjustable cam plates for forming a French fold on a moving towel. Also disclosed is an air-discharging bar for forming a cross fold while a towel or the like is traversing a plurality of conveyors while moving through a folder to a stacker. The folder of this patent is incapable of forming the variety of folds formed by the folder of this application and does not suggest the controlled panel folding of this invention.
The folder of this invention is designed to eliminate the major shortcomings of the prior art by providing a versatile folder capable of folding towels of varied sizes in a rapid and efficient manner. The provided apparatus is adapted to form French folds by substantially instantaneously folding opposed side panels of sheet material over a central panel in precise, overlying longitudinal alignment. The prior art does not suggest the instantaneous controlled folding hereinafter described in detail.
It is thus an object of this invention to provide a substantially instantaneous manner of forming French folds in laundry pieces such as towels, napkins and small sheets in the course of which air is progressively rolled out or squeezed from between the lateral and central panels assuring desired and precise panel edge alignment.
It is another object of this invention to provide a folding apparatus adapted to automatically form any of a plurality of desired folds in a towel or the like being processed by means of simple control actuation.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a folder which is readily adaptable to the processing and formation of desired folds in a variety of towels of varying sizes.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a folder which although rapid and flexible in operation is both rugged and compact occupying a minimum of valuable floor space.
The above and other objects of this invention will become more apparent from the following description when read in the light of the accompanying drawings and appended claims.